Coinbase, Circle and the Fed Take Center Stage in a Key Crypto Week -

Crypto Week Ahead: Aug. 17-23

The Federal Reserve’s policy outlook will remain a key driver for markets this week as officials seek to bring inflation under control without causing a recession or a significant increase in unemployment. Wednesday’s release of the July FOMC minutes could shed more light on policymakers’ views about the possibility of further rate increases.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, estimates that the likelihood of a September rate hike is only 25%. He expects the next increase in December, while also projecting that inflation could accelerate again in early 2027.

Geopolitical developments will also be important to watch because they can quickly affect market volatility and crude oil prices.

Higher rates tend to weigh on crypto and other risk assets by making traditional investments more attractive.

The crypto industry also faces an important European regulatory deadline, with EU operators required by Aug. 23 to stop transactions involving 14 designated crypto platforms.

Key Events This Week

All times ET

Crypto

Aug. 18: Coinbase and Circle’s agreement governing USDC revenue-sharing economics enters its first three-year renewal period.
Aug. 23: The EU’s ban on transactions involving 14 named crypto-asset service providers takes effect.

Economic Data

Aug. 17, 8:30 a.m.: Canada July CPI; annual inflation is expected at 2.6%, down from 2.8%.
Aug. 18, 9:15 a.m.: U.S. July industrial production; economists expect a 0.3% monthly increase, compared with 0.1% previously.
Aug. 19, 2 a.m.: U.K. July CPI; headline inflation is forecast at 3.0%, compared with 2.6% previously. Core inflation was last at 2.6%.
Aug. 19, 5 a.m.: Final euro-area July inflation; headline CPI is expected at 2.9%, while core inflation is forecast at 2.5%.
Aug. 19, 2 p.m.: Minutes from the Fed’s July 28-29 policy meeting.
Aug. 20, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending Aug. 15; economists expect 201,000, compared with 209,000 previously.
Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Japan July CPI; headline inflation was previously 1.7%, while core CPI stood at 1.6%.
Aug. 21, 2 a.m.: U.K. July retail sales; the previous monthly reading was 1.0%.
Aug. 21, 4 a.m.: Preliminary August euro-area S&P Global Composite PMI; expected at 51.6 versus 52.0 previously.
Aug. 21, 9:45 a.m.: Preliminary August U.S. S&P Global Composite PMI; forecast at 53.2 versus 54.5 previously.

Corporate Earnings

Aug. 17: BitFuFu (FUFU), premarket; estimated EPS of $0.01.
Aug. 18: Canaan (CAN), premarket; estimated EPS of -$0.14.
Aug. 18: BTCS Inc. (BTCS), post-market.

Governance Votes

Compound: Proposals 595 and 596 would lower rates on deprecated markets to zero and introduce security upgrades for layer-2 networks. Voting ends Aug. 16.
Frax Finance: FIP-450 and FIP-451 would add Gearbox and Royco yield strategies to sfrxUSD. Voting concludes Aug. 17.
ShapeShift DAO: Members are considering moving the rFOX staking program from Arbitrum to Ethereum mainnet on Oct. 1, with revenue-sharing rewards temporarily increased to 50%. Voting ends Aug. 18.
Rocket Pool: A proposal seeks to replace Snapshot with RocketDash as the official offchain signaling platform. Voting closes Aug. 19.
GnosisDAO: Members are considering converting Gnosis Chain from a standalone layer 1 into an Ethereum-settled rollup with synchronous composability. Voting ends Aug. 19.
Decentraland DAO: A proposal would establish clearer governance rules and an appeals process for platform-wide bans. Voting closes Aug. 19.
THORSwap: TIP-19 proposes migrating THOR tokens to METRO on Ethereum mainnet at a 1:1 ratio. Voting ends Aug. 22.

Token Unlocks

Aug. 17: Aster (ASTER) — 1.8% of circulating supply, worth about $28.3 million.
Aug. 18: Official Trump (TRUMP) — 4.1%, valued at roughly $40 million.
Aug. 20: LayerZero (ZRO) — 4.5%, worth approximately $24.8 million.
Aug. 20: Kaito (KAITO) — 6.2%, valued at about $11.7 million.
Aug. 21: Avalanche (AVAX) — 0.7%, worth roughly $23.1 million.
Aug. 21: Morpho (MORPHO) — 3.9%, valued at approximately $22.7 million.
Aug. 21: Akedo Games (AKE) — 4.9%, worth around $14.1 million.